Members tedmich Posted May 9, 2014 Members Share Posted May 9, 2014 I finally found a dead Peavey Triple XXX on Clist, poor guy had gigged it for years and was down to trying to run two EL34s in the middle sockets. He'd installed a "equipment retention system" of an exhaust hanger U bolt right through the head shell. The inside (at least) was pristine but the problem was readily apparent; all four of the crap 100ohm SGR were in place and sure enough the end one was bad. $2.00 at Frys and a little soldering and 4 x 1k 5w SGRs were in place. He even included the footswitch and cable for the $100! I have got to do my standard Ultra mods though; C3 coupling cap to 0.0022uF, cathode bypass caps C21 -> 1uF, and C35 removed (or 1uF), for a whole lot more bottom and less fizz. I am also going to "max cap" it to 3X the filtering as I can fit 50mm high caps on the whole PS/preamp board, it costs only $60 from Mouser so a no-brainer for a 14yr old amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted May 9, 2014 Members Share Posted May 9, 2014 Best deal lately I got lately was a stereo Magnatone "Twilighter" 280 for $750 (including shipping) off Ebay. They usually sell for about twice that.... but this one only made a hum for the seller when he turned it on and no sound. The gut pictures showed it to be totally stock and never worked on. I assumed it was either a bad tube, bad filter caps, or at worst a bad transformer. If it was a transformer I figured I'd only be in the hole for $200 (probably less if I scrounged one that wasn't a name brand spec verified new one) so I bought it. When it arrived I replaced one Astron Mini Mite 25uF bias supply cap and installed the tubes and it fired right up perfect sounding with no hum. The 6973 tubes were original to the amp new and had the Estey brand name on them. All the tubes were original and probably for $150 all by themselves. It's great when you get one of these totally stock from the factory. I even "stuffed" the new cap inside the old Astron carboard casing so it looked stock. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1960-Magnatone-Twilighter-280-Stereo-Tube-Electric-Guitar-Amplifier-Amp-/231209424674 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tedmich Posted May 11, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 11, 2014 Got the max cap done, also did most of my favorite Ultra mods the big caps sitting on their little cousins from Illinois (China really) notice 2.2uF Wima cathode bypass, and blue 0.0022uF PP coupling cap, this amp should now be stiff as a board with a huge low end, and since its 3X filtering its really a XXX3X. Replaced most of the resistors in the signal path with MF ones of the same value, also the ceramics like C8 are now 630v polystyrene, and if the first few anode/plate resistors are MF from the factory (R11 & R2), all of them probably should be. MF upstream makes the biggest difference, like the 10k on input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tedmich Posted May 30, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 30, 2014 yeowwee this sure has a ton of gain! I am in heaven! Its a breathing seething monster! Seems pretty quiet for such a beast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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